First Petzval shot!

[psychoanalyst]

Hello All,

I am really excited to share my first petzval shot! It was shot using a tiny 5" Benjamin French Petzval I recently acquired. Shot on well expired Fomapan 100 and developed in Diafine.

I had problems with the exposure that I will explain below, but I was just thrilled to see the swirlies first hand. Looks like the lens just about covers 4x5. It was shot wide open since I have no waterhouse stops.

OK...the problem I faced. This was shot using the focal plane shutter on my Speed Graphic. My Nikon D300 gave me a reading of 1/5 sec at f5.6 and the low 1 ISO setting. I was severely restricted because I had a lens with no aperture (I shot it wide open anyway, so that definitely was not the problem), fixed ISO and a camera with a FP speed of 1/50. How does one control exposure in such situations? I used the T mode next and severely overexposed the shot.

The picture is also not the sharpest thanks to me forgetting my cable release. The body release on my camera sucks. And then I screwed the film edge during development, but I am OK with that since this was meant to be a Petzval experience and it was a really good one at that!

Thanks.

Avi

[RawheaD]

Why the low ISO again? Also, doesn't the SG also do 1/30s?

Anyway, in a case Like that, I'd use an ND filter (like ND4) and do a 1s shot, manually timed, of course, using the T setting.

[amac212]

Great job!


Was the Fomapan really that expired that you rated it as ISO 1? Yes, the Speed Graphic has a 1/30th shutter speed. (Move the shutter selector lever forward and when you wind the shutter key you'll see 1/30(as well as 1/125, 1/500). But equally, I venture to guess you may have been able to get away with just using the lens cap on and off. I find the tolerance for negative films to be quite tolerant that if I get a meter reading slower than 1/30th and I'm shooting with my speed graphic, I just use the lenscap and have yet to end up with an unusable shot.

[psychoanalyst]

Why the low ISO again? Also, doesn't the SG also do 1/30s?

Anyway, in a case Like that, I'd use an ND filter (like ND4) and do a 1s shot, manually timed, of course, using the T setting.

I should have been clearer. I rated the Fomapan at 100 (on hindsight I should have rated it at 200 since that is what Diafine recommends).

The low 1 setting was on my Nikon D300 DSLR which I used to meter the shot.

Great job!


Was the Fomapan really that expired that you rated it as ISO 1? Yes, the Speed Graphic has a 1/30th shutter speed. (Move the shutter selector lever forward and when you wind the shutter key you'll see 1/30(as well as 1/125, 1/500). But equally, I venture to guess you may have been able to get away with just using the lens cap on and off. I find the tolerance for negative films to be quite tolerant that if I get a meter reading slower than 1/30th and I'm shooting with my speed graphic, I just use the lenscap and have yet to end up with an unusable shot.

Amac...thanks! Yes...I just noticed the lever. I need to fix the tensions though, because when I flip the lever, the movement is very sluggish.

Avi